By the time you read this, Sue and I will be approaching retirement from Hope Now, but not from the Lord’s service. God and health permitting, Vic will continue to preach wherever the Lord leads, write, lecture and, of course, do whatever he can in Ukraine.
50 years after Vic preached his first sermon, 40 years into our marriage and 25 years after founding Hope Now round our kitchen table, we have much to thank God for. Though, of course, we are sad to be leaving Hope Now, we rejoice that it is not yet the end of the journey. The Lord still has much for us to do. As much as we are able, we are looking forward to a roving ministry in the UK and the USA, so church secretaries get on the phone and book Vic while you can. He has deliberately kept his diary free for next year.
It is our fond hope that the tour, starting at Chatsworth Baptist Church, in West Norwood where Vic started his pilgrimage under the remarkable ministry of the Rev Frank Goodwin, will be an opportunity to meet old friends and to say an official farewell to Hope Now supporters. Please do make the effort to come to at least one of the venues listed on page 2
This is not only a time to celebrate 25 years, in which the Lord has blessed this ministry, but also for Jon Budgell to be welcomed as Vic’s successor and Brenda Greenwood as Sue’s replacement. Jon will bring a new dynamic to the ministry of Hope Now. Whereas, Vic has always painted on a broad canvas, with new ideas, projects and schemes tumbling over one another, Jon has an excellent eye for detail and an orderly mind to get things done. Brenda is an outstanding person who has proved her worth under Sue’s tutelage.
I hope you will understand that, while I shall still be working in Ukraine, we shall need, for Jon’s sake, to keep our distance from Hope Now. Sue and I are, to many of you synonymous with the charity, which is understandable because for the first 14 years we were the only staff. While Jon knows that he can always turn to us for advice, we shall not be offering it unasked. We shall be giving him absolute freedom to stamp his own mark on the organisation.
To that end, this will be our last letter to you unless you want to hear from us. But there’s a problem. All of the addresses of our friends and those who still want to hear from us privately, are in the Hope Now database. Obviously, we only ever had one list, which grew and grew over the last years to become the Hope Now list. If you want to hear from us again, we need you to let us know and make sure you have our up to date details, highlighted below. Please, do let us have yours, especially your email, as we tend to do most our communicating electronically.
A turtle was sitting on a gate post, when a passing crow landed on the other post and asked in surprise, “How did you get up there?” to which the turtle replied, “Not without some help.” It is the same with us. We did not achieve in Hope Now all that has been done without God’s constant care, guidance and provision and the help of some amazingly generous people and co-workers. Without belittling the contribution of others, a veritable galaxy of stars, we would both like to mention in particular two outstanding women. Aileen Callender has worked alongside of us for all 25 years in so many capacities in the UK, South Africa and Ukraine that it would take much more space than this letter to catalogue. She deserves to be held in the highest esteem. Standing "tall" alongside of Aileen, we must place June Mordey, who has just celebrated her 80th birthday. June has been, without any doubt, the hardest working fund-raiser for Hope Now, making her church in Hereford, the number one donor, year after year, for more than ten years. These two ladies are always spoken of in Ukraine with a mixture of awe, appreciation and the deepest affection. To God be the glory, great things he has done.
Now the time has come for these two turtles to get off the fence and for us to say to you all, ten thousand times ten thousand thanks for putting us two turtles up there. Now we need even more help to get down. It has been a wonderful privilege and joy to serve God and the gospel with you to bless others far and wide, but especially in Ukraine.
With love from Vic and Sue.
Vic and Sue Jackopson 14 Chetwynd Drive Southampton SO16 3HZ.
In 1996 a group of 10 brothers and sisters from First Baptist church,
lead by Valerii Belyaev started the work to create a church in Malyi
Buzukiv village.
This is a story about how Hope Now has made a significant difference in
our lives as a family, but further than that getting to know Vic
Jackopson can be really quite dangerous!
hurch life is alive and well in many of the villages around
Cherkassy. Having spent 5 days visiting several villages, progress
was evident in many of them.
t is now several years since Hope Now handed over the various ministries
in Cape Town into local hands. However, Hope Now has maintained
responsibility for some of the former residents of Rainbow House.
01.05.2012 Pray for the music group Zozulenka, and their teacher Natalya, as they busily practice for their return tour here in November
02.05.2012 Pray for preparations that are being made for the cycle tour this summer, and for opportunities for the participants to share their faith as they cycle around the villages
03.05.2012 Pray for Brenda and Ksenya as they speak today at the meeting of the Oasis Group at Locks Heath Church
04.05.2012 Pray for Jon and Ali as they attend the Baptist Assembly annual meeting in London until 7th
05.05.2012 Pray for our students at Universities and Colleges as they complete their studies for this semester and take their end of year exams
06.05.2012 Pray for all those who receive food packages through the feeding programme, that no needy person/family is overlooked
07.05.2012 Pray for David John as he completes his preparations for the teaching sessions at the Pastor’s Conference next week
08.05.2012 Pray that we will have full teams of volunteers for all the camps that will take place this summer at Kompas Park
09.05.2012 Pray for the young people from Rainbow House in South Africa, and for Margaret Ferguson as she supports them in their studies
10.05.2012 Pray for the work of the mobile medical unit, and for Dr Doreshenko to fully recover following his recent illnesses
11.05.2012 Pray for the ongoing support of the Mission Fund, which undergirds all the various projects that we have, that adequate funds will be received each month
12.05.2012 Pray for Larisa and the work she does with the family support group, which encourages mutual sharing and prayer
13.05.2012 Pray that the Humanitarian Aid system that we use to send money to Ukraine becomes quicker and more efficient
14.05.2012 Pray for Anastasia Vovk as she plans camps in various villages around Cherkassy, and pray she finds a team of helpers to assist her
15.05.2012 Pray for safety in travel for Jon, David Reddaway and David John as they travel to Ukraine for the Bible School Graduation and for Ksenya as she returns to Ukraine to help Alla at Kompas Park
16.05.2012 Pray for the ongoing work of Cherkassy’s first sheltered accommodation, especially now plans to renovate the house have been drawn up and the costing received
17.05.2012 Pray for the Church twinning programme, that more UK Churches will offer to twin with a Ukrainian Church for mutual support and encouragement
18.05.2012 Remember before God all our children in cottage homes, thanking God for the security and love they receive from their foster parents as they grow up in these Christian families
19.05.2012 Pray for the work party travelling to Ukraine today, to prepare Kompas Park for the summer season
20.05.2012 As Jon, David and David return to the UK, pray for the newly graduated students as they take up their responsibilities back in their churches
21.05.2012 Pray for the children in the orphanages we support, and for Larisa and Misha as they oversee our work in them
22.05.2012 Give thanks for all our volunteers who come in and help with the monthly mail out, and do other jobs so willingly, often without being asked
23.05.2012 Pray for Jon and Ali to be refreshed as they take some time off together and have a break
24.05.2012 Pray for ex-prisoners who are now leading churches and serving in their communities that they will be faithful to what God has called them to do
25.05.2012 Pray for the young people in our pre-independence homes, that they grow in confidence as they study and plan for their future
26.05.2012 Pray for Vika Lavrenko and Stanislav Dyachenko, sponsored children who celebrate their birthdays today, also for the quiz at Ashley BC this evening in support of our work
27.05.2012 Thank God for our Board of Directors, whose support of the work of Hope is so encouraging; pray especially for the two new Directors to become more familiar with Board matters.
28.05.2012 Pray for Alla Kostyunina and her team as they prepare in detail for the planned camp activities at Kompas Park during the summer
29.05.2012 Pray for Misha in
all the work he does at Alpha House and in the Ukrainian Office of Hope Now; pray also for the plans he and Lena have in using Alpha House as a summer day camp in August
30.05.2012 Pray for Vlad Serdyuk, one of
our sponsored children, as he celebrates his birthday today
31.05.2012 Pray for Cyndee and Darrel Knight and the Hope Now supporters in America, especially in their plans to visit Kompas Park this summer
